The growing relationship between sound and healing

 

For thousands of years, shamanistic medicine has included music (usually in fairly primitive forms, such as drumming or a shuffling dance rhythm) in its repertoire of healing techniques.  It now appears that perhaps music - or, rather, sound waves - may indeed have an integral role to play in healing.  Ted Gioia tells us more.

Every month, some remarkable new property of sonic healing gets validated by research or clinical practice. And the developments of the last few days are especially exciting.

Consider the recent news from MIT, where researchers eliminated 50% of the brain plaque associated with Alzheimer’s. And they did it with 40 Hz soundwaves—no surgery or drugs were necessary. The procedure is completely non-invasive.

And look at this brand new study, which reveals the potential to counter inflammation and reduce joint pain with low-intensity ultrasound. Body tissue magically starts to repair itself—with potential for use in everything from treating arthritis to recovering from injuries.

And check out this article, published just yesterday, which describes a significant improvement in motor skills among Parkinson’s patients—all because of ultrasound.

But I’m especially excited by the recent announcement from San Francisco research lab Midjourney. They have developed a new scanning technology involving ultrasound—and it sounds like science fiction. “We’re building a bold new kind of machine to reimagine the foundations of healthcare and our relationships to our bodies,” the company boasts.

It doesn’t even feel like a medical procedure—more like a visit to the health spa. In fact, that’s what the company will call its diagnostic centers: Spas.

It starts by stepping into a shallow pool of golden light. You then begin to descend into the water. Your body passes through a ring of underwater sensors, each acting like a dolphin, using its echolocation. The sensors send ultrasonic sound waves through your body from every angle. With enough waves, and enough angles, we form an image of what’s happening inside your body.

The goal is for this process to take no more than 60 seconds.

You go into the water, you come out of the water, and you’re done.

The result is “a 3D map of your body, down to a fraction of a millimeter.” But here’s the payoff:

We think it's completely possible that with enough early imaging in the future, the world could avoid 30% of all deaths and 50% of all healthcare costs.

There's more at the link.

As a musician, Ted is particularly excited by the potential mingling of his field and that of medicine.  He goes into a lot of background detail about it, which should be of particular interest to other musicians, but also to us less tuneful folk who merely want to get better in health terms.  I was particularly intrigued to learn that Midjourney, previously known as an AI-assisted graphics program, was now moving in an entirely new and (as far as I know) unrelated direction.

Recommended reading.

Peter